Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)

Description
The SWLS is a short 5-item instrument designed to measure global cognitive judgments of satisfaction with one’s life. The scale usually requires only about one minute of a respondent’s time, where respondents answer on a Likert scale. It’s questions are open to interpretation, making this scale suitable for adults with a range of background.

Validity
Subjective well-being is conceptualised as consisting of two major components: the emotional or affective component and the judgment or cognitive component. The SWLS was designed to measure the judgment component. Diener, Emmons, Larsen and Griffith (1985) have conducted a series of validation studies showing that the SWLS has a single factor,
high internal consistency, is reliable and is content appropriate for a wide range of groups. Convergent validity was established through high correlations with other well-being measures, including the Fordyce Scale and the Giunn Scale. Additionally, the SWLS has a low correlation (.09) with measures of affect intensity, showing that it is likely to be reliable over affective states.